Manulife has announced a number of structural and leadership changes to "drive better alignment with its strategic priorities, accelerate the Company's growth, optimize legacy blocks of business in North America and leverage Manulife's talent across geographies".
Among the changes announced:
Manulife Asia
Anil Wadhwani has been appointed President and CEO of Manulife Asia, effective November 13, 2017. Mr Wadhwani is a global financial services leader who has spent his 25-year career with Citi, primarily in growth roles across consumer banking in Asia, with a focus on customer experience and digitization. He has extensive wealth management and insurance distribution experience, and most recently served as the global head of operations for Citi’s consumer bank, based in New York. He has lived and worked in Asia, Europe and the U.S.
Finance and Actuarial Functions
Steve Roder, Manulife’s Chief Financial Officer, has decided to retire for personal reasons, effective December 31, 2017.
Philip Witherington, currently the interim President and CEO of Manulife Asia, has been appointed Manulife’s Chief Financial Officer, effective January 1, 2018, subject to immigration approvals.
North American Legacy Business
Manulife has created a dedicated senior leadership role with direct responsibility for its closed legacy businesses in North America. These operations include the Company’s legacy annuity business, long-term care insurance and select long-duration, guaranteed insurance products. Manulife has a stated objective to improve returns in its legacy businesses, and the creation of this new role will enable it to more aggressively pursue this opportunity with stronger accountability and focus on in-force management, cost efficiencies and leveraging scale, as well as potential strategic transactions for these businesses where it makes sense.
Naveed Irshad has been appointed Head, North America Legacy Business, effective January 1, 2018. He currently serves as the CEO of Manulife Singapore. He will report jointly to the heads of Manulife’s U.S. and Canadian businesses and will join Manulife’s Executive Committee.
Manulife also announced several key leadership appointments to drive its ongoing growth and leverage talent across its businesses.
Global Wealth and Asset Management
It is bringing together all of its wealth and asset management businesses into a primary reporting segment, Global Wealth and Asset Management. Paul Lorentz has been appointed Head, Global Wealth and Asset Management. His appointment is effective October 1, 2017, and he will report to Warren Thomson, Manulife’s Chief Investment Officer. Mr Lorentz will join Manulife’s Executive Committee. He takes over from Kai Sotorp, who has decided to retire.
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